WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE COUNCIL MEETING
April 23, 2007

MINUTES

I. The meeting was called to order at 2:35 p.m.

Voting members and alternates present were: G. Bernhardt, A. Chamberlain, R. Dodge, J. Dombrowski, N. Klingbeil, P. Martin, S. Nelson, J. Petrick, T. Rafferty, L. Ream, J. Rudisill, C. Ryan, V. Shalin, J. Sherman, T. Sudkamp, C. Sulentic, J. Thomas (Chair), P. Vermeersch, D. Voss

Non-voting alternates and other attendees were: B. Gray, M. Hogue, D. Ketcha, J. Kimble, G. Malicki, W. Sellers, R. Wantz

II. Approval of Minutes

It was moved and seconded that the minutes of the January 29, 2007 meeting be approved as written. Motion carried unanimously.

III. Report of the Dean (J. Thomas)

Graduate enrollment headcount for spring 2007 increased by 5 students (0.2%) over spring 2006, and by 223 students (7.2%) over five years. Total student credit hours for spring 2007 had a significant increase of 783 (3.3%) over spring 2006, or 5464 (28.2%) over five years.

The recent Graduate Open House had about 350 in attendance. Of those attendees, about 185 applied at that time and had the application fee waived.

J. Thomas introduced Jason Champagne, Associate Director of Graduate Recruitment. Jason came to Wright State in January and is located in the School of Graduate Studies in the Student Union. His first large function was the successful Graduate Open House on April 11.

The National Research Council (NRC) Survey of Research Doctoral Programs, implemented about every decade is nearing of its data collection phase. Two hundred institutions were involved. The Survey provides important visibility and is important for program evaluation. Four of Wright State’s doctoral programs and 116 program faculty participated. This represented a participation rate of 100% for programs and 91% for faculty responses, which is above the national average. Those participating in this effort are to be commended.

At the Regents’ Advisory Committee on Graduate Studies meeting on February 2, 2007, the Master of Information Systems (MIS) passed by a 13-0 vote. No problems are anticipated when this goes before the full Board for approval on April 25.

New members for Graduate Council and the various committees for 2007-2008 need to be considered. A letter concerning these committees will go out in about a week.

Graduate Student Excellence nominations are due this Friday, April 27, 2007. This deadline is set due to needing time to have specifics about each recipient printed in the program. The Awards Ceremony and Reception will be May 23, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. in the Student Union Formal Lounge.

We were notified by ETS that launching a revised GRE General Test has been put on hold due to concerns about timely access being available for all students worldwide. The current testing process will be in place until June 2008 while ETS and the GRE Board consider future improvements that will not impair access.

J. Thomas expressed his thanks to Graduate Council members and Committee members for a great year.

IV. Committee Reports

* Policies Committee (L. Ream)

The Committee met April 10 and April 17, 2007 and discussed and acted upon the following issues:

The Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a doctoral-level, post-master’s degree program, which will be offered online to cohort groups in conjunction with the University of Toledo. The DNP program will initially be a part-time program, with a full-time cohort option being available in about two years. 54 quarter hours (WSU) or 36 semester hours (UT) will be required for completion. The initial cohort expectation is about 20 students – 10 WSU and 10 UT - with tuition being the same for all. The capstone requirement for the DNP program will be a practice-oriented dissertation.

A motion to approve the DNP was made and seconded. It was approved unanimously. This will go before Faculty Senate in May, the Board of Trustees on June 8, then to a statewide review with presentation to RACGS next fall.

Also discussed was a Program Development Plan (PDP) for an MS in Leadership Development proposed by CEHS. This post-baccalaureate degree program will integrate the principles of individual-based leader development with the conception of leadership development focused on processes that build the capacity of groups; therefore, integrating the principles of individual leader development within the larger social framework of leadership development. CEHS states that the International Leadership Association is giving guidelines for such programs and, if approved, Wright State’s would be a model program. This program will be offered as a thesis or non-thesis track MS, with a 45 quarter credit hour requirement for completion. In considering this program, the authors tried to avoid overlap with the MBA program. The proposed program was reviewed by both Colleges, and no concerns were voiced. A motion was made to approve and was seconded. It was unanimously approved.

RACGS will review this MS in Leadership Development PDP and suggest ways to improve it. A full proposal is to be expected for the fall Graduate Council meeting.

* Membership Committee (J. Petrick)

The Committee met April 17, 2007 and considered and recommended 4 nominations for full graduate faculty status and 11 nominations for adjunct full graduate faculty status.

The full member nominees are:

Christopher Barton EES/CoSM
Thomas Rooney BioSci/CoSM
Amit Sheth CS&E/EGR&CS
Christopher Wyatt NCBP/CoSM

The adjunct full nominees are:

Dennis Darby ESPhD/CoSM
Rodney DeKoter ESPhD/CoSM
Nancy Elder Psy/CoSM
Mohsin Jamali EE&CS/University of Toledo
Allan Jamieson CS&E/EGR&CS
Guoqi Liu BMB/SoM & CoSM
W. Todd Nelson Psy/CoSM
Robert O’Donnell Psy/CoSM
Ruth Pachter CS&E/EGR&CS
Vincent Schmidt CS&E/EGR&CS
Janet Sutton Psy/CoSM

It was moved and seconded that the nominees be approved; the motion passed unanimously.

* Student Affairs Committee (B. Gray)

The Student Affairs Committee met on February 21, 2007 to interview candidates for the Ohio Board of Regents Graduate and Professional Fellowship Program. This $3500 scholarship is designed for students planning to attend a graduate or professional program in Ohio. The committee selected the first place student and runner up following the interviews. The names were forwarded to the Dean, School of Graduate Studies, for submission to the Ohio Board of Regents, with the expectation that only the first place student will receive an award. The first place student plans to attend Wright State University to pursue a master’s degree in Middle Childhood Education.

We have received 8-9 applications for the Wright State University Graduate Council Scholarships. These scholars receive a stipend of at least $12,000 plus full tuition and can be extended for two years. Thus far, four offers have been made through the accelerated process; three were accepted and one declined. One additional offer is under discussion. The Graduate Student Affairs Committee will meet on May 10 to discuss the remaining applications. It is expected that six to seven new offers will be awarded along with four scholarships from last year being extended.

* Research Committee (W. Sellers)

While total external funding is ahead of last year, funding for research is lagging a little behind the award amount Wright State received last year.

For the Research Council Research Incentive Program, 14 proposals for Research Initiation were received, with 7 being awarded (for a total of $70,000). Eight Professional Development awards were given of the 19 proposed (for a total of $24,000). Research Initiation is more competitive due to the amount of monies involved.

Wright State University ranked fourth in the new Ohio Technology Commercialization statewide competition, based in large part on strong research funding from Ohio industry.

V. Old Business

A proposal to revise the 12 credit hour limitation on master’s degree transfer credit had been tabled at the January 29 Graduate Council meeting for further discussion in the colleges. The proposal has been further discussed by the Policies Committee with new input and a revised proposal was distributed with the Agenda for this meeting. It was moved and seconded and unanimously approved to remove the proposal from the table. The revised proposal states that the amount of transfer credit cannot exceed 12 credit hours except that a student who has, or is the spouse or dependent child of an individual who has, moved to the Dayton region within the past year to accept full-time, self-sustaining employment, and who had been an active degree candidate at an institution near the previous location, may petition to transfer up to one-half the total number of credits required for the Wright State degree earned from the institution at which they were most recently enrolled as a degree candidate (changes from January 29 underlined). Such transfer credit is subject to all other requirements of the Transfer Credit Policy, and the petition that is required to transfer more than 12 quarter credit hours is to ensure that more than one person is involved in approving the transfer of credit hours to a Wright State graduate program. J. Thomas had communicated with Regents’ staff and was informed that there is no state level provision to prohibit such a policy and there is, in fact, precedent for accommodating large employers. Following brief discussion, this policy revision was moved and seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

VI. Adjournment

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.